Learning Analytics for Programme Review: Evidence, Analysis, and Action to Improve Student Learning Outcomes

The application of learning analytics (LA) to research and practice in higher education is expanding. Researchers and practitioners are using LA to provide an evidentiary basis across higher education to investigate student learning, to drive institutional quality improvement strategies, to determine at-risk behaviours and develop intervention strategies, to measure attrition more effectively and to improve curriculum design and evaluation in both on-campus and e-learning settings. This paper is a case study report of the novel application of LA to programme curriculum review from a major cross-institutional project in Hong Kong. The paper describes the rationale for the project, the conceptual model that led the approach and the development of a software tool that allowed the automation of statistical analyses specifically relevant to programme review. In addition, the paper addresses a major challenge that the project faced in relation to data governance. The paper concludes by proposing the potential benefits of LA for programme curriculum review.